From the 'Well of the Retching Cure' to a commuter village on the M9 motorway

A Tour Through Ireland 1748

The extracts below are from the whimsically titled A Tour Through Ireland in Several Entertaining Letters written in 1748 by W.R Chetwood.[1] On his journeys Chetwood travels from Cork to Dublin. Over three pages he discusses what seems to be the areas around Paulstown. The passage from the book comes after he has left Kilkenny and before he comes to modern day Bagenalstown and Leighlinbridge in county Carlow.

He refers to the ‘seats’ of two men, but for some reason does not spell their name in full. However, A —–D and F—D would correspond with Aylward and Flood, the two principal land owning families in the Paulstown area at the time. The description he gives of the house in which A —– D lives also corresponds with Shankill Castle, where the Aylward family lived.

He then gives a detailed account of stopping at an inn where the Kellymount Gang are known to frequent. Kellymount is a townland which forms part of Paulstown village. He describes in detail how they became so notorious that “the whole country trembled at this name.”

The extracts below are from pages 205-207 of the publication. For a better understanding of some words, the ‘f’ shaped letter should be replaced with the letter s.

[1] Chetwood, W. R., A Tour through Ireland in Several Entertaining Letters: Wherein the Present State of That Kingdom Is Consider’d … Interspersed with Observations on the Manners, Customs, Antiquities, Curiosities, and Natural History of That Country … London: Printed for J. Roberts …, 1748. Print.